Commando City: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 7)

T
his is a work of fiction
. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

COMMANDO CITY

Copyright © 2015 Xiphos Press

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing, 2015

T
urbulence
.

Danny braced himself against the side of the aircraft as it jerked violently, trying to keep his balance.

“What's with the rough ride?” he asked over the radio. “Is there AA fire?”

“No, it was just a wind gust,” the pilot answered. “You should be fine once we're over the landing zone.”

Danny certain hoped so, because if not they might be in serious trouble. Hard won experience had shown him that heavy winds could scatter paratroopers over a wide area, separating units and dramatically lowering their effectiveness. Even if they made it to the ground in one piece, he could effectively lose half his unit or more before the fighting even properly started.

But then, those risks were already known to them when they decided to take this route. Ghost Battalion was trained for air assault, rapidly deploying from helicopter transports backed up by gunships and sometimes artillery. It had proven to be effective in many battles, but there were weaknesses as well.

Initially they had to rely on their diminutive Hornets, small and agile, but not exactly built for transport. Troops had to ride outside on bench seats, exposed to the elements and enemy fire. The influx of the new Typhoons with proper troop cabins helped, but they still couldn't carry certain types of equipment.

More importantly, helicopters flew slower than fixed wing cargo transports, giving the enemy far more advanced warning. As a result, Ghost Battalion had decided to add to their capabilities. With many of the new cargo aircraft coming online they elected to train their troops as paratroopers, giving them the ability to rapidly deploy the battalion by air, along with heavier equipment.

It wasn't just a whim either. Ghost Battalion had a specific target in mind: the airport district inside Milwaukee. Currently held by NPC troops, control of the airfield would be critical in the Hydra Alliance's efforts to take the entire city. Ragnarok Company hadn't tried to invade it yet, but no one wanted to take the chance that they'd be able to grab it from right under their noses. If they were going to take it, they were going to take it now.

The previous few months had also colored their opinion. After the long, grueling fight for the Cudahy District the alliance was eager for a quick, decisive victory to turn the momentum in their favor, and this might be the ticket. Danny could sympathize with that feeling. Black Wolf Company had taken a beating over the course of the fight for the territory, stuck defending a tower against hammer blow after hammer blow. He, like everyone else, wanted to strike back at the enemy and hit them hard.

This was where they would do it. The NPC garrison might not be Ragnarok, but it would give them an opportunity to get back on the offensive. They could dictate the pace of the fight and regain the initiative.

Plus, with the airfield in hand they could move their helicopter and fixed wing forces closer to the front lines, giving them more options when it came to air support. Ragnarok still had an edge when it came to air superiority fighters and close support aircraft, but moving more planes closer to the front would certainly help Hydra. Right now they were based south of Old Chicago, giving them limited endurance. But the longer they could stay over the battlefield, the more effective they could be.

“How long until we're at the drop zone?” he asked.

“Five minutes,” the pilot responded.

Five minutes. Danny checked his machine gun and then leaned back against the side of the transport's cargo hold. They'd have a serious fight on their hands soon enough.

“
T
he first wave
is five minutes out from the target,” Liz said.

Nora looked down at the holographic map table in front of her, studying the display showing the airfield district. They didn't have the information they would have liked, but it would be enough to sustain them until their troops were able to get on the ground and assess the situation.

At least, they hoped so, but they had little choice in the matter. Performing reconnaissance on an enemy held district was hard enough in the first place, but with third party interference it became impossible at times. Recon planes couldn't stay aloft for long before being chased off by enemy fighters, helicopters were vulnerable to antiaircraft fire, and the infantry scouts didn't have many good places to infiltrate, since there were no true gaps in the walls surrounding the district.

That meant relying on photographs taken during the course of relatively high-speed passes, and those weren't terribly detailed. They still had a general idea of the enemy's strength, positions and armaments, but they had to fill in some of the blanks with guesses.

Ghost Battalion could improvise on the fly, though, and they needed to get their hands on the airfield. Ragnarok couldn't be allowed to gain a forward airbase, and they needed to kickstart their own offensives. That meant taking a leap of faith.

Literally, in the case of several of their units.

“Are all units in the second wave at the staging area?” she asked.

“They are,” Liz confirmed.

“And they're ready to go at our signal,” Anna added.

Nora nodded. They were trying something very different today. Normally the battalion's officers would take part in the assault alongside their troops, but the air drop might ruin those plans. Even if the pilots performed flawlessly the troops would probably be somewhat scattered, and that could mean their leaders might be killed in the opening stages of the battle.

To counter that possibility several of Ghost Battalion's senior officers stayed behind in the Cudahy District, coordinating the battle from their headquarters in the tower Black Wolf Company had defended for several weeks against repeated Ragnarok assaults. Command on the ground would fall to the platoon commanders: Selene and Danny for Black Wolf, and Jana, Will and Gray for Redd Foxx. Karen would have operational command within the district, with Neil acting as her second.

They would attack in two waves. First, Barghest and Black Wolf would drop in by parachute, supported by helicopter gunships and mortar fire from the neighboring district. Then, once they had secured landing zones, Redd Foxx and Spectre would arrive by helicopter. Once the entire battalion was on the ground the could sweep over the enemy in short order.

Nora just hoped they didn't have armor, because their battalion couldn't bring in many heavy weapons. The best they had to offer were recoilless rifles and grenade launchers, and that might not be enough against some of the heavier tanks.

But they were committed at this point, and now the only thing she could do was to make sure everything went smoothly. That meant observing the flow of battle and directing the troops, even though she might not have a direct hand in the fighting. She had done it plenty of times before, but most of her recent experience had been on the battlefield. Nora wondered if she'd end up longing for action before they were done here.

That wasn't her job right now, though.

“
O
ne minute out
.”

Selene glanced over her shoulder at the troops in the hold and gave them a hand signal. Just like they had trained numerous times, her platoon stood up and hooked their static lines to the cable running down the center of the plane. Once the ramp in the back opened they would step out one by one, their chutes opening once the ripcord reached its limit.

There hadn't been any accidents during training, but a controlled jump and a combat jump were two different things. The only unit in the entire battalion that had parachute experience under battlefield conditions was Bravo Wolf's third squad, and that had been a stealth infiltration under the cover of darkness. This time they were jumping during the daylight hours, and they'd be under heavy fire from the ground.

They did have some advantages. Bravehart had targeted many of the airfield's antiaircraft guns with their heavy artillery, cutting down their numbers significantly. They'd have Raven Flight with them as well, able to provide cover fire even in the face of stiff resistance. And they were dropping an entire battalion onto the enemy within a relatively short period of time, giving them the ability to bring overwhelming force to bear right out of the gate. That could prove critical when it came to winning the fight.

But still, one good shot could take out a plane and kill almost thirty troops in the blink of an eye, and that made her nervous. The new Colossus transport could carry thirty six troops in the hold, and Hydra Command had ordered Ghost Battalion to use them. The smaller Sparrow transports might be a little less vulnerable, but they would need to have fifteen of them to deliver the entire first wave. With the Colossus, they only needed five.

She just hoped that all five of them survived.

“Thirty seconds.”

Selene tensed with anticipation, watching the light board hanging in the rear of the plane over the ramp, still red. The ramp itself opened up, and she felt the rush of wind coming into the cargo hold. Once the board went green they'd make their exit as quickly as possible.

She wondered if she should say anything to her platoon, but elected not to as she looked around. They were nervous at the prospect of their first jump, and Selene couldn't blame them. She had similar feelings, and anything she might say to them might actually make them worse.

So the only thing left for her to do was to stand and stare, waiting for the light in front of her to turn green. Once they were on the ground they'd be ready to go, just like always. It was a matter of getting on the ground, however…

And then she had no more time to think, because the board suddenly went green. The line in front of her stepped toward the back of the plane, and she followed them off the ramp, straight into the blue.

Selene plummeted toward earth for a second until her chute deployed and slowed her descent. So far so good. Now they had a battle to fight on the ground.

She just hoped she survived the fall.

C
hutes were already blossoming
below as Danny stepped off the ramp of the Colossus. He felt a sudden jerk as his own parachute deployed, and then he was drifting, falling lazily toward the ground wherever gravity and the wind would take him.

The Hydra Alliance had access to ram-air parachutes which could be controlled, but they were impractical for such a large jump. Having so many paratroopers descending at once would only invite collisions if they could all maneuver a significant distance. The circular canopies they were using weren't especially controllable, but that was fine for their purposes, and they were also much cheaper to manufacture. That was important when they had to provide over one hundred and fifty of them on short notice.

But it also meant they were dropping completely helpless until they reached the ground, with no way to avoid enemy fire. Danny tried not to look down, because at this point it would do him no good. He could only watch helplessly as the enemy took potshots as they descended.

He looked down anyhow.

Danny could see flickers of light coming from the ground, sparse at the moment. He knew it wouldn't last, though. The enemy would be roused soon enough, and once they started putting up heavy resistance anyone still in the air was probably a goner.

Four hundred feet. They had to descend four hundred feet before they touched the ground, and then they had to get out of their harness before they could properly fight. All the while the enemy garrison would be having a field day, almost like shooting clay pigeons.

He was glad they were fighting NPC troops. If this had been Ragnarok it would be far, far worse.

But then an explosion went off below, and a concentration of enemy troops went with it. Danny watched a dark shape zoom off, small but distinctive. Raven Flight's Hornet gunships had joined the fray.

They couldn't fly close for fear of getting tangled with the paratroopers or blowing them off course, but the diminutive helicopters could still provide cover as they descended. An antiaircraft gun blew into fragments, the victim of a fast rocket attack.

But the helicopters couldn't get everything, and with such wide open spaces below the paratroopers would likely be extremely exposed as they landed. They needed to move quick and get into cover quickly once they touched down. Until his boots hit the earth, though, all he could do was watch and wait.

S
elene's
first impression of parachuting into a combat zone wasn't a pleasant one. Her platoon had the misfortune of making their jump right on top of an antiaircraft position, which started blazing away at them as soon as their chutes opened. Several troops around her were killed as they floated down helplessly in their harnesses. She herself barely managed to avoid a series of shots that ripped past her.

Once again, Raven Flight had saved them. The antiaircraft gun giving them so much trouble suddenly blew apart in a spectacular fireball, blasted by a brace of rockets from one of the Hornet gunships. Others made strafing runs with their miniguns, scattering the enemy infantry starting to form up to repel the attack. The might not have killed many, but the pilots had at least bought them some time.

But floating down on a parachute wasn't fast by any stretch of the imagination. Selene felt completely helpless dangling from her canopy, but there was nothing she could do about it at the moment. She didn't want to draw her pistol for fear of dropping it, and her assault rifle was strapped tight to her chest to ensure it would stay with her during a rough landing.

Fast roping from a helicopter might have been faster, but that would have exposed their transports to withering fire from the ground. They had to hover in place while disgorging troops, making them easy targets for any enemies with decent aim. Hydra Command had deemed the maneuver too risky, likely to cost them a significant amount of materiel in the process.

So instead, the helos would remain relatively safe making their fast attack runs. Meanwhile, the paratroopers were the ones that had to play the role of clay pigeons, she thought sourly. Nighttime might have been a safer bet, but this was when they could get most of their players online, so they would have to make do for now.